Systems for sensing the presence of particulate contaminants in transient fluids have been available for many years. In order to sense small particles, the sensor is made quite small. Typically, instead of actually measuring a complete fluid stream, a sampling of the main flow of a fluid is required. In order to obtain a representative, accurate sample, kinetic sampling must be done. However, this is very difficult to accomplish in practice, because sample flow rates must be tied to full stream flow rates.
In very clean conditions, with low particle concentrations, statistical methods to tie sample measurements to the main flow provide poor correlation. In some applications, sampling is not desired. For example, where the detection of a single particle is critical, sampling and associated statistical methods cannot be tolerated. As a result, a full flow sensor is required.
It would be desirable to develop a sensor system and a method for detecting contamination in fluids, wherein the sensor system and the method provide detection of small particles with maximized flow rates.